Scatter Plot in SSRS

The Scatter Plot in SSRS is useful to visualize the relationship between any two sets of data. In this article, we will show you how to create a Scatter Plot in SSRS, How to change the Chart Title, Legend Position, Legend Title, and Font style of a Scatter Plot in SSRS or SQL Reporting Services with an example.

For this SSRS scatter plot example, we used the Custom SQL query:

-- Query that we use in Scatter Plot
SELECT [Carat]
      ,[Color]
      ,[Clarity]
      ,[Depth]
      ,[PricePerCt]
      ,[TotalPrice]
  FROM [Diamonds]

and the Data that it’s going to return is:

Source Table

Create a Scatter Plot in SSRS

In this example, we are going to create a Scatter Plot to display the Total Price against the Diamond caret. The below screenshot will show you the Data Source, and Dataset that we used for this Scatter Plot Report.

Shared Dataset

In the SSRS report design, we can add a Scatter Plot by dragging the Chart property from the Toolbox to Design space, or right-click on the report designer and select the Insert -> Chart option.

Insert Scatter Plot

Once you select the Chart option, a new window called Select Chart Type will be opened to select the required chart from the available once. For this SSRS example, we are selecting a Scatter Plot.

Select Scatter Chart Type

Once you click on the OK button, the Scatter Plot will display in the design region with dummy data.

Scatter Plot with Dummy Data

Click on the empty space around the SSRS Scatter Chart will open the Chart Data window

  • Values: Any Numeric (Metric) value such as Total Sales, Sale Amount, Number of Customers, Tax etc. All these values will be aggregated using an aggregate function (Sum, Avg, Count etc). It is because we are grouping them with the category group items.
  • Category Group: Please specify a Column name on which you want to partition you the Scatter Plot.
  • Series Group: Please specify the Dimension here. It further groups the individual category
Scatter Chart Data

Drag and drop the Total Price Metric column from dataset to chart data values, and Carat Dimension to category group.

Add Scatter Plot Category Group and Value

Click on the SSRS Scatter Plot Preview tab to see the report preview.

Scatter Plot preview

Format Scatter Plot in SSRS

The following list of examples will show you the steps involved in formatting the Scatter Plot in SSRS

Change Axis properties of a Scatter Plot in SSRS

Right-click on the Axis of a Scatter Plot, and select the Horizontal Axis Properties.. option from the context menu to format the Axis values.

format Scatter Plot axis properties

Here we changed the font style and font size of the Horizontal Axis.

Format Scatter Plot Horizontal Axis Fonts

Next, Right-click on the Vertical Axis of an SSRS Scatter Plot, and select the Vertical Axis Properties.. option from the context menu to format the Axis values. Please use the above-specified technique to change the font of the vertical Axis. Next, format the Numbers in the vertical axis by selecting the Number tab.

Format Scatter Plot Numbers

Change Axis Titles of a Scatter Plot in SSRS

To change an Axis title of a scatter plot, Please select the Axis title region, and change the title as per your requirement. OR, right-click on it will open the context menu. Please select the Axis Title properties.. option from it.

Format Scatter Plot Axis Title

It will open a new window called the Axis Title Properties window. Under the General section, we can change the Title text as per our requirements. For now, we are changing it to Carat

Scatter Plot 13

Under the Font tab, we can change the Font style, size, and color of an Axis title. For now, we are changing the Color to Dark Green, Font to Century Gothic, Size to 12pt, and style to Bold

Scatter Plot 14

Please apply the same properties to Y-Axis, as well. Once complete, click on the Preview to see the SSRS Scatter Plot preview.

Scatter Plot 15

Change SSRS Scatter Plot Title

To change the title of a Scatter Plot, Please select the Chart title region, and change the title as per your requirement. OR, right-click on it will open the context menu. Please select the Title properties.. option from it.

Change Scatter Chart Title

Here we are changing the title as SSRS Scatter Plot Example because the report is displaying the same

Change Scatter Chart Title Position

Format SSRS Scatter Plot Title Font

Within the Font tab, we can change the Font Size, Font Family, Font Style, and Color of a Scatter Plot Title. Here we are changing the Font to Century Gothic, Font size to 14pt, and colour to Dark Green

Format Scatter Chart Font

Format Legend of a Scatter Plot in SSRS

To format the Scatter Plot Legend region, please Select the Legend region and right-click on it will open the context menu. From the menu, please select the Legend Properties option.

Scatter Plot legend Properties

It will open a new window called the Legend Properties Window. Within the General Tab, we have an option called Legend Position to change the Legend Position by changing the dot positions. For now, we are leaving its position as it is.

Next, Under the Font tab, we can change the Font style, size, and color of a Legend. For now, we are changing the Font to Century Gothic, and Size to 9pt

Scatter Plot 20

Click OK button to close the Properties window, and hit the preview tab to see the report preview

Scatter Plot 21

Right-click on the Marker will open the context menu. Please select the Series Properties from it.

Scatter Plot Series properties

Once you click on the Series properties option, a new window called Series properties will open.

Under the Markers tab, we can change the Marker Type, Color, Size, Border width, and Border Color. First, let me change the shape from Auto to Diamond

Scatter Plot 23

Let me change the Color to Maroon, and size to 5pt

Scatter Plot 24

From the report preview, you can see we successfully changed the Marker Shape, size, and color

Format Scatter Plot Marker Shape, size, and color

You have an option to add one more dimension to the Series group to further divide the Scatter plot markers. For now, we are adding Color to the Series group

Add Series Group

Next, we are changing the Marker size to 5pt(default 3.5pt) and kept the color to Automatic

Scatter Plot 27

Let me show you the report preview

Scatter Chart 28

As you can see that the report is showing the perfect result, perhaps it would be nice if I change the default Color combinations to more meaningful output. For this let me go to the series properties (as I explained above) and click on the expression button under the Make Color property

Scatter Plot 29

Let me change the Color from Automatic to Color Dimension filed

Scatter Plot 30

Click on the preview tab to see the SSRS Scatter Plot preview

Scatter Plot in SSRS Report Preview

From the above screenshot, you can observe that we successfully changed the Color of a Scatter Plot using the Color Dimension.